Sound the alarm

Transitions can be hard for all of us, and Z has often shown concern or gotten upset when transitions near; on Monday mornings, he's sometimes a bit anxious about getting ready for school and the yellow bus. On days when Meh or I have an evening rehearsal, he'll sometimes fall apart a bit when we get ready to leave (though it's interesting to see that he often tries to cope "rip off the Band-Aid" style: as soon as we say we're going to be leaving, he waves/yells "bye" and tries to coax us out the door).

Anyway, we've long used the "two minute" warning rule for any transitions for the boys, where "two minutes" can, in wall clock time, be equivalent to anything between 10 minutes and 30 seconds. In speaking with some other parents at a recent birthday party, we're not alone in this particular time dilation technique. But lately, Z has been increasingly been interested in time (and days, days of the week, months, etc.), so we've used various countdown timers so he can watch the two minutes pass or have some kind of alarm when the time is up. The other day, when I said it was time to get dressed for school, Z said "...and Z's going to set his alarm!" A few minutes later, he said "beep! beep! beep!", and immediately grabbed clothes and started putting them on. Go Z!

I thought that was just him imitating a generic alarm, but the next time he "set his alarm", when it went off, he said "ching, dah di-dah di-dah dah, ching, dah di-dah di dah dah...", which I eventually correlated back to my phone's musical alarm sound. He's also used Meh's different phone alarm sound for a third variety. He alternates between those and the beeps (which I've realized are quoting the kitchen alarm). All in all, these (plus the actual alarms) have really helped him deal better with transitions - nice work Z!

A circus atmosphere

We picked up the boys from their sleepover at mima and papa's house last night (everyone had an excellent time, and there was apparently even sleep!), and headed onward to meet up with O's friend J and J's parents R and M for Mercer Island's apparently long-term annual circus (a preschool association fundraiser). It's held at the high school, which is tucked away (and huge - the only one on the island?), but when we approached we knew we were at the right place from the crowds and over capacity parking lots. Finding a side street, we walked over to the fair, and were greeted with everything from ponies and monster trucks to a school bus bounce house (the boys impressively recognized it from a previous encounter last summer), a dunk tank, and more. Then we walked inside and got to hear some musical acts (the "Bus Boys" were on while we had snack -- a band composed of school bus drivers) and wander around a giant set of carnival games. The boys of course flocked to the vehicle themed ones, where O test drove a balance bike, both boys won several obstacle course "races" on tricycles, and got to bounce on a large contained trampoline. A very fun if exhausting morning!

After that, it was time for lunch. Sushi, of course.

Personal space

Happy birthday to Meh! When I asked the boys a few weeks ago what they wanted to get her, O replied "flowers". Z supportively added "yes". A very nice thought; when I asked what colors we should get, O immediately replied with his favorites -- green and blue. Then he thought a moment more and added: "and also purple and pink. And also black." I took all of these suggestions (well, minus the black) to the local florist, who was a big fan of any order being transcribed from 4- and 6-year olds' instructions, and O and I got to pick them up last night on our way to meet up with Meh and Z for birthday dinner at mima and papa's house. He was very pleased with the results, though he was concerned that he couldn't see the (green) vase while it was in the box for transport. Anyway, birthday dinner was a splendid affair, with yummy food, the boys singing "Happy Birthday" (in between repeated performances of "Let it Go" and "What Does the Fox Say", of course), a tasty cake, and then capped off with a birthday present that everyone could enjoy (hopefully even mima and papa) -- a boys slumber party at their house.

I had illusions of taking Meh and L out for dessert, but we were all so tired that we just went home for a quiet evening, likely to be followed soon after by bedtime. Action packed! I will share this e-mail from mima of her conversation with O soon after we left:

Mima: Where is Owen?
O: I am in the bathroom. I want some space.
Mima: Can I come in?
O: Yes, as long as you don't talk to me.

Rollover plan

A first for L today -- Meh was giving her some tummy time on a play matt in her room while organizing and hanging up more of L's clothes (yes, the collection continues to grow), and when she looked back over, L had rolled over onto her back. Go L!

Redress Number One

The milestones continue for L, with today's being a fashion one: she got to wear her first dress. Five minutes after being put in it, she had a blowout - but it was luckily mostly contained to the pants; the dress itself remained intact long enough for the five of us to go have a nice family trip to the park. L slept and then had a snack in the car while the boys ran around a bit, but mostly opted to exercise daddy's arms with constant swinging.

Yesterday was an always popular visit to the Museum of Flight. The boys had a grand time, making a beeline for the chopped half-737 fuselage and sitting down in seats (O asked where the seatbelts were, as if expecting this front half of the plane to just take off). This visit's art activity was the building of a kite from a paper cutout, straws, ribbon, and string -- they did an excellent job, and we'll just have to wait for a dry windy day to get them a whirl. After much running around (and sometimes into) airplanes, it was snack time; alas, the cafeteria at the museum had pretty poor offerings (no fresh fruit? really?), and we ended up offering them a bagel and a cookie -- happy Passover indeed!

It would have been enough

We've now started entering the high season for birthday parties; O had one on Friday night at a bounce house, with a "Frozen" theme (they blared the soundtrack on a loop the whole time, as well as having an excellent Elsa/Anna/Olaf-decorated birthday cake with ice-chip looking rock candy). Needless to say, he had an excellent time -- though I've got to start remembering to put that boy in short sleeves for these things, he was a sweaty mess! We've gotten about 5 additional invites for the upcoming weeks; it's going to be a busy but fun season!

Happy Passover! We had two(-ish) nice seders with the kids; L wasn't quite ready to ask the four questions, but Z was super pleased to be eating matzah again (who knew?), even if the floor around his chair looks like we've been putting down peanut shells or something. For the first night, we met up with friends D & D and their sons N & B; it was a high energy affair to say the least, but everyone had a good time running around and cruising through my one-pager siddur. For the second night, we attempted to have mima and papa over. Alas, the boys were ready to go at, like, 4:30. We ended up doing a split seder, with the boys doing some of the traditions before their bath, and then mima and papa joining us for the festive and tasty meal once the boys were in bed. The boys' rendition of dayenu (complete with dance interpretation by O):

Electronic report card

Grandma and J's visit wrapped up nicely, and they're back in Michigan -- soon to head to New York to meet their other new grandchild! We all had such a nice time and were sad to see them go. Z said it best: "we'll definitely see them another time". The boys have been wearing their new grandma and J-gifted Cars pajamas nearly constantly too. Other than that, it's just been back to our regular schedule around here.

Today I received an interesting e-mail -- it was a hyperlink to O's "report card" for his recently completed set of swimming classes. Because he takes lessons at his preschool, I've only gotten to see him swimming once, so it was super cool that they actually provide some documentation. And it was actually a very nicely formatted web page, with quotes from the teacher interspersed with photos, which I of course scraped for our own archival purposes. O will be continuing his lessons next quarter, as well as adding an additional class in "gymnastics", which he insists is "like 'nastics', but with 'gym'". Mrow?

The name game

Today we did a formal baby naming for L -- and by "formal", I mean pretty informal: I put together a short service, the family went out to a beautiful new lilac bush that Meh had picked out and planted (O had to go inspect it in person, of course happily stomping right through the fresh dirt - ah well), we announced Eleanor's full Hebrew name, said a few words, and then we ate, natch. Her Hebrew name is בתיה שושנה (Batya [daughter of G-d, named for Meredith's grandfather] Shoshana [Rose, named for my grandmother]).

Everyone did very well with the ceremony, including little L who was wrapped in my tallit. Afterwards there was a giant and decadently rich chocolate cake courtesy of mima (and Costco), and the grandparents all got to catch up for a bit. Of course with all of the standing around, the boys were mildly stir crazy, so it was off to the park from there. As usual, I think the adults got more exercise than the boys, who insisted on extended sessions on the swings.

We've been having a very nice visit with grandma and J. The boys had a fabulous slumber party at their hotel last night, and it sounds like there was actually even a small amount of sleep involved. As suggested, we all ended up meeting for breakfast -- though for the boys it was apparently second breakfast, as they enjoyed a lovely continental breakfast at the hotel of froot loops, cheerios, and bananas.

First cousin

Yesterday was L's one-month checkup. Amazing to see just the deltas from just three weeks ago:

• Weight: 8 lbs 15.5 oz (25-50%)
• Length: 20 3/4" (25%)
• Head circumference: 14.2" (25%)

Much big news in the family -- the boys and L have a cousin, and Meh and I have our first nephew! Aunt J and Uncle B welcomed their son M this morning, and we're so excited for them!

Spring break begins with grandma and J visiting from Michigan -- the boys have been talking about seeing them "on Friday", and today was the day. O was particularly excited to introduce them to L, and we had a nice family dinner before grandma and J helped field bath time for the boys. There's even talk of the boys having a sleepover at grandma and J's hotel (which is temptingly close to one of the boys' and our favorite breakfast places -- I'm sensing a brunch in our future).